Tymoshenko's UESU trial politically motivated..again

Oleh Medvedyev recently posted a blog on the'Ukrainska Pravda' site entitled: Tymoshenko's "UESU" - a boring female romance compared with the bloody gangster novel whose heroes now lead PoR.

Here's a summary of his thoughts:

In the early 90's Ukraine's business elite was formed primarily from two social groups - gangsters, and former Komsomol activists under whose feet were trampled representatives of the communist state nomenklatura.

The period of primitive accumulation of capital in the history of any nation is not the most romantic or attractive - Ukraine is no exception. But even within the global laws of initial accumulation of wealth two styles were prominent in Ukraine: the hard gangster style of Donetsk, and the softer style of the Dnipropetrovsk Komsomol.

The first, were brutal and feral street children from mining town suburbs who rose to the top without any regard for rules or the remnants of Soviet morality under the sound of the crossfire of Kalashnikovs. The second, came from intelligent families that became cultured working inside the Party. Their origin and education meant they did not dispose of their competitors by blowing them up inside soccer stadiums. It is no surprise which of these two subcultures won out in Ukraine.

Now they are not only successfully dividing up amongst themselves the remains of state-owned property in the style of the 90s, but are also dealing with former business rivals and current political rivals in the same manner.

The UESU criminal case is needed by them not only to deepen reprisals against Tymoshenko, but also to divert people's attention from those heroes who embody the Donetsk mafia.

The UESU case was fabricated more than 10 years ago on the orders of Kuchma, as revealed on the already transcribed Melnychenko tapes. But even under Kuchma a criminal case could not be made to stick.

On November 11, 2005, The Supreme Court of Ukraine, at a joint meeting of two chambers attended by 46 judges, unanimously determined the UESU case to be closed in compliance with applicable criminal procedural law. There decision was binding on all authorities and officials. At the time the decision of the Supreme Court was unprecedented in the history of Ukrainian justice. Never had so many judges gathered to make a ruling - the objectivity and impartiality of their decision should be unquestionable. Vasyl Onopenko, a BYuT candidate, has not yet been appointed head of the Supreme Court,  Tymoshenko had been out of the PM's chair for two months, and Yushchenko has signed a memorandum of cooperation with Yanukovych.

The highest judicial body in the land had put an end to the ten-year legal battle, declaring absurd the accusations made by the Kuchma regime against Tymoshenko - recognizing them as being politically motivated.

Yanukovych's decision to yet again revive a case that has already been chewed over 100 times before and closed by judicial authorities lacks any common sense and has no legal logic. It has nothing to do with law and justice. The authorities just want to add another 12 years to the seven already meted out to Tymoshenko.

Apart from the Supreme Court decision, which in itself makes any criminal proceedings illegitimate, it is appropriate to mention the following:

First, Yulia Tymoshenko is being accused of crimes which allegedly took place at a period when she did not work in for UESU. All the materials mentioned by the Security Service of Ukraine and prosecutors relate to the period 1997-98, when Yulia Tymoshenko was already a deputy in Parliament.

Secondly, the 10-year statute of limitations applicable to the charges levelled at Tymoshenko have expired. 1997-1998 plus 10 is - 2007-2008, but not 2011 or 2012.

Thirdly, the new-old case against Tymoshenko is based solely on the assertion that "she could have given some verbal instructions" to a company for whom she had stopped working for over two years previously. In particular, the charges are based on the contention that Yulia Tymoshenko, as a parliamentary deputy, allegedly verbally indicated former subordinates how to make tax statements in order to obtain allegedly illegal tax refunds. However, there is no documented evidence of "verbal instructions". Moreover, those individuals who seem to be complicit in this "crime" were not even questioned - not questioned, because investigators know in advance the answer they would receive: no instructions were given by Tymoshenko.

UESU received tax refunds at that time from the State Tax Adminstration. At that time the STA were headed by the iron fisted current prime minister Mykola Azarov; under his leadership the STA would only approve such refunds after the most lengthy and detailed investigations..